As a young girl, I was always fascinated by the sky and what was in outer space. I never dreamed about being an astronaut, but I did like the idea of flying and exploring outer space. Now that I am older, I am still fascinated with outer space and with our solar system and I still wonder when will I be able to fly to the moon.
As a Criminal Justice graduate student at the University of Phoenix, I was assigned to an investigation. An investigation that I thought would take months for me to do. I was to investigate Iowa’s Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rock that was given to the state in 1973 or 1974. Many of the Goodwill Moon Rocks went missing: What happened to the Goodwill Moon Rocks? Where could Iowa’s Goodwill Moon Rock be? Well, that’s something I had to figure out.
The first manned mission to the moon was Apollo 11 in 1969. The first men on the moon were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin; their prime mission of Apollo 11 was to “perform a manned lunar landing and return.” The mission was a success and they were the first to return samples from another planetary body. They brought back 47.84 pounds of Moon Rocks. Neil Armstrong once declared that, “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.”
Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the moon in 1972. The objective of this mission was to explore and sample the materials and surface of the moon by using the Lunar Roving Vehicle. The astronauts traversed the greatest distance by using the Lunar Roving Vehicle, that they were able to return the greatest amount of rock and soil from the moon to earth. When Apollo 17 returned to earth, they brought back a grand total of 309 pounds of rock and soil. President Nixon awarded Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 Goodwill moon rocks to 50 states, Puerto Rico, and 135 other nations. President Nixon’s plan for the Goodwill Moon Rock’s called for each rock to be placed on a plaque. Each of the plaques contained a plate honoring the gift, a Lucite ball containing the rock and a flag of the country, state, or territory receiving the gift. Many of the plaques containing the moon rocks have been stolen, lost or have become part of private collections.
As I started my search for Iowa’s Goodwill moon rock, I had to brainstorm whom I was going to contact for instance, the governor and museums. I first researched all the museums in Iowa, then I wrote an email to the governor of Iowa, Mr. Chet Culver. I doubted I would hear back from the governor, and I was anxious thinking that I was going to be stuck with dead end emails, I wanted to succeed in my investigation. A few days went by and I received an email from Molly Clause, the governor’s receptionist. She then redirected me to Bill Johnson the Curator with the Iowa Historical Museum. Mr. Johnson had great news for me; he confirmed that the State of Iowa had two samples of moon rocks, representing Apollo 11 and Apollo 17.
November was the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the moon. The Apollo 12 was launched on November 14, 1969 and returned to Earth on November 24, 1969. This historic event makes Iowa’s moon rock even that more important. Discovering the whereabouts of Iowa’s moon rock was extremely exciting. I am proud I found the state of Iowa’s Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rock and also Apollo 11 Goodwill Moon Rock and are located in a safe location where the people can look at the magnificent national treasure.
Joseph Richard Gutheinz, the professor at the University of Phoenix who gave this assignment to my class, is a retired Senior Special Agent for NASA’s Office of Inspector General. As a Special Agent he went undercover in Operation Lunar Eclipse in 1998 to recover the Honduras Goodwill Moon Rock. He has assigned University of Phoenix graduate students, such as myself, the task of hunting down Goodwill Moon Rocks around the world. He had been offered $5 million when he recovered the Honduras Goodwill Moon rock.
Julie Elizabeth Sahagun is a Criminal Justice Graduate student at the University of Phoenix. She received her Bachelors Degree in Sociology at the University of California-Riverside.
